Game 2012.118: Tigers at Twins

Doug Fister didn’t disappoint, and despite a carnival of a 3rd inning, and Gene Lamont being A Great 3rd Base Coach, the Tigers ended their 3-game losing streak. Cabrera reached the century mark in RBIs, and Dirks hit one out, which I’m still trying to figure out, because both he and the pitcher are lefties, and I didn’t think that was possible.

The Tigers finish off the three-game series with Max on the mound. Scherzer was impressive Friday against Texas (2 runs in 6 innings), although he had too many strikeouts (8) and ran up a pitch count of 112 in 6 innings. With the way the bullpen has been lately, a longer outing is recommended for today.

He may need to be at his best, since the Tigers will encounter dreaded Rookie Pitcher Guy again, this one named Cole De Vries. CDV was pounded his last time out–8 runs in 1 1/3 innings. Will the Tigers finally break out of their Rookie Pitcher Guy slump?

Stat of the Day: Delmon Young is only hitting .217 in day games.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Andy Dirks. What a difference having Dirks back!

I like this lineup vs. RH starters, but with a potential platoon setup at DH with Young and Bosh. However, some time on the pine for BB may not be at all a bad thing right now – might help get him going. I suspect with DY’s HR, he will move back into the 5th slot though, which just might put a full stop to his getting going.

No HRs off of Benoit in his inning of work – maybe Leyland has him going now.

Sanchez has been bumped back three games even though “he is pitching better than” his 2.11 WHIP (2.00 is probably a fairer estimate.) Jeff Jones says there is nothing wrong mechanically, which leaves open the possibility that maybe he is just really bad. We’ll see in about a week – maybe the extra time off will help get him going too.

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William

August 15, 2012 at 9:17 pm

ChiSox just hung a 5 spot in Toronto to break open a tie game. 9-4, pale hose.

PHToy in HK

August 15, 2012 at 10:09 pm

I am tired of being 2 games back….

Vince in MN

August 16, 2012 at 1:10 am

That will all change tomorrow.

Coleman

August 16, 2012 at 11:14 pm

I guess that’s now officially in Be Careful What You Wish For territory.

An interesting clip from an article in today’s Detroit News by Gregg Krupa:

Daily drills
Perhaps the greatest defensive outfielder in Tigers history, Al Kaline, had a different approach. His extensive, daily routine consisted of both shagging flies and repeated drills involving game situations.
After shagging, Kaline fielded fly balls for outs and made believe runners were on first, then first and second, then on third.
He then repeated all the drills while fielding base hits.
But these days, once the season begins, most major leaguers practice fielding only during batting practice.
“It is a difference in eras,” said Brookens, who began playing five years after Kaline retired.
“We used to take infield every day when I was a player. And Al did outfield every day, too. In today’s game, it’s different.
“We come out early when we want to throw to home and throw to bases a lot, right before batting practice. We’ll do that, but not too much. Other than that, it takes place in batting practice.”
Players spend more time on hitting than fielding, Brookens said, in part because it got them to the majors and they believe it is what keeps them there.

Latest Comments

jud I know it was only an exhibition game ...but...I don't know if I can take that much hysterical laughter from

Coleman http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12413132&categoryid=2521705
On the other hand, Verlander is "confident" and "ready to go," so there's that.

Smoking Loon Good article, Kevin.
Did anyone else have the thought last year that perhaps the biggest problem with Verlander was... predictability? He

Kevin in Dallas Neither does this story.
http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2015/02/detroit_tigers_bring_back_righ_1.html

Kevin in Dallas This picture does not instill a whole bunch of confidence.
http://www.mlive.com/tigers/#/0

Coleman Check out this one: http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2015/02/report_relief_pitcher_joba_cha.html#incart_more_sports
He shaved the beard! And looks like he dropped a few pounds too.

StorminNorman$ http://m.tigers.mlb.com/news/article/110232762/joba-chamberlain-signs-with-detroit-tigers
low price, potential high yield... or maybe not. Whatever the case, Joba certainly said all the right things.

Jim EggersUSMC I concur K in D, am hoping for a good but not great season from JV. Seemed to me he

StorminNorman$ Great info/research Kevin! One point to clarify and factor into the analysis: JV did make $20M last year, but

Coleman Verlander had core muscle surgery last January. Could it be, at his age, and with the type of pitcher he